diff --git a/web/src/notifications.js b/web/src/notifications.js
index f3d4793f1b5dfd..fd22e0e4c7dc40 100644
--- a/web/src/notifications.js
+++ b/web/src/notifications.js
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ import * as spoilers from "./spoilers";
 import * as stream_data from "./stream_data";
 import * as stream_ui_updates from "./stream_ui_updates";
 import * as ui from "./ui";
+import * as ui_util from "./ui_util";
 import * as unread from "./unread";
 import * as unread_ops from "./unread_ops";
 import {user_settings} from "./user_settings";
@@ -508,7 +509,7 @@ export function received_messages(messages) {
             });
         }
         if (should_send_audible_notification(message)) {
-            $("#user-notification-sound-audio")[0].play();
+            ui_util.play_audio($("#user-notification-sound-audio")[0]);
         }
     }
 }
diff --git a/web/src/settings_notifications.js b/web/src/settings_notifications.js
index d11f30606a8cb4..a8362a2586b5a5 100644
--- a/web/src/settings_notifications.js
+++ b/web/src/settings_notifications.js
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ import * as stream_edit from "./stream_edit";
 import * as stream_settings_data from "./stream_settings_data";
 import * as stream_settings_ui from "./stream_settings_ui";
 import * as sub_store from "./sub_store";
+import * as ui_util from "./ui_util";
 import * as unread_ui from "./unread_ui";
 import {user_settings} from "./user_settings";
 
@@ -123,7 +124,7 @@ export function set_up(settings_panel) {
 
     $container.find(".play_notification_sound").on("click", () => {
         if (settings_object.notification_sound !== "none") {
-            $notification_sound_elem[0].play();
+            ui_util.play_audio($notification_sound_elem[0]);
         }
     });
 
diff --git a/web/src/ui_util.ts b/web/src/ui_util.ts
index c3a0960d8ecf0f..394c4bc3843bed 100644
--- a/web/src/ui_util.ts
+++ b/web/src/ui_util.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import $ from "jquery";
 
+import * as blueslip from "./blueslip";
 import * as keydown_util from "./keydown_util";
 
 // Add functions to this that have no non-trivial
@@ -75,3 +76,21 @@ export function parse_html(html: string): DocumentFragment {
     template.innerHTML = html;
     return template.content;
 }
+
+/*
+ * Handle permission denied to play audio by the browser.
+ * This can happen due to two reasons: user denied permission to play audio
+ * unconditionally and browser denying permission to play audio without
+ * any interactive trigger like a button. See
+ * https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/HTMLMediaElement/play for more details.
+ */
+export async function play_audio(elem: HTMLVideoElement): Promise<void> {
+    try {
+        await elem.play();
+    } catch (error) {
+        if (!(error instanceof DOMException)) {
+            throw error;
+        }
+        blueslip.debug(`Unable to play audio. ${error.name}: ${error.message}`);
+    }
+}